SSN: Chapter 144 - Colonies (2)

The monsters had spread out with the colony at its center. However, Woojin didn't need to run all over the place to catch the monsters that were intent on killing the humans.

He was going for a straight rush towards the colony!

The monsters were under the control of the Dimensional lord. Their foremost goal wasn't to hunt down humans. It was to defend the colony. The colonies on the planet were basically like Dungeons.

It was like Rashmode's Summon Magic Circle. Instead of subway stations, these were artificial Dungeons built on the the surface. It was called the Dimensional Gates.

When Woojin slowly advanced, it was as expected. The monsters that had been attacking in other directions converged towards him. This in turn grew the size of Undead army.

Every point Woojin gained from the Level Up was put towards the Control.

The Skeleton Warriors were all under the command of the Death Knights, and each Death Knights required only 1 Point to be consumed. He had Lich Jaenis, who had become level 99 in an instant, and 10 Skeleton Magicians were put under his control per level. He could control a total of 990 Skeleton Magicians.

The combined Control Points he needed to maintain the Undead army, the Death Knights, Lich, Golem, and the little devil was less than 100.

The rest of his Control was used on his other underlings.

Goo-oh-oh-oh.

Koo-uh-uhk!

The corpses were reanimated as puppets. Their appearances were unaltered from their death.

There were over 2000 zombies marching toward the enemies. They were a bit slow.

The Zombie army was a mixture of small and large monsters. There were even ogres mixed in with the army.

Kwhang, kwah-ahng!

[Sssooohp. Ha-ah-ah. I'm excited. I'm really excited.]

Ggaebi had possessed the corpse of an ogre, and he was rampaging like a madman.

When one revived a corpse into a zombie, its capability was diminished compared to when it was alive. However, when Ggaebi possessed the body, he was able to squeeze out ability that was superior compared to corpse’s ability before death.

Kwahng!

Gweeeehk!

The possessed ogre ripped out a road sign, and the ogre swung it like a blunt weapon. Ggaebi's performance was almost on par with Dolsae.

These two were well-suited at causing chaos as they penetrated the enemy lines.

The Undead army followed as the two opened up a path.

After walking across corpses on top of corpses, Woojin was able to reach the Colosseum.

“It's grown a lot.”

The tree's roots were spread as if it was encasing the Colosseum, and the tree was taller than most buildings one could find here. When Woojin looked up, a Titan fell from the sky.

Koooooohng.

The Titan was easily over 10 meters tall, and its size rivaled Dolsae.

[You are the bastards that defeated Rajakui-nim!]

Woojin didn't dismount from his horse. He shrugged his shoulder.

“As you can see...”

[Koo-oh-oh. I am Nicktor. I'll avenge the death of Rajakui-nim!]

Woojin let out a sigh.

“Your head is big, yet you don't have a brain? Can you win against Rajakui?”

[Koo-oh-oh! Rajakui-nim is a Great Dimensional lord. He is stronger than me, so I follow him.]

“I killed that bastard, yet you think you can beat me?”

[Koo-ooh-ooh-ooh.]

Nicktor of the Giant race raised his large hand, and it scratched its head. Then it raised a really big hammer in anger.

[Koo-oh-oh! How dare you insult a warrior.]

“Is it retarded?”

Woojin had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

This is why Giant races are...

“Kill it.”

[As the lord commands!]

The Death Knights jumped off their Phantom Steeds, and they charged towards the enemy.

Hoo-ooh-ooh-oong!

[Koo-ooh. How dare you, you little flies!]

Nicktor was zealously swinging his hammer, but it failed to hit anyone. The Death Knights were dealing deadly attacks, so it was false to compare them to flies. The Death Knights started mutilating the giant.

Ssuh-kuhk, kwah-jeek!

If one excluded the two new Knights in Al Assad and Relick, all the other Death Knights were over S Rank.

It didn't even take 1 minute to defeat the giant. Rackto's spear pierced its forehead, and the giant fell.

“Tidy up the surrounding.”

[There is only death in front of the lord!]

[Clear away everything that is alive!]

The Skeletons and Death Knights moved busily to exterminate the remaining monsters. As Woojin was looking up at the foothold, Jaenis appeared next to him.

[I've seen this unsightly thing too many times now.]

“Do you think it'll come out?”

[Do you mean the Dimensional Fragment?]

Woojin had cleared 9 colonies in Seoul and Busan. He had gained three Dimensional Fragments out of the nine locations. Those odds were pretty good, so there was a basis to his expectation.

The zombies had been standing around doing nothing. At his command, the zombies charged the colony, and they started to hang all over the tree. He had to get rid of the zombies anyways....

Kwahhhhng!

The walking undeads blew up, and the colony was swept up in the explosion.

Debris started falling from the sky as it littered the the surrounding. When the debris ceased to fall, he head towards the center of the Colosseum, which had lost its original form.

A gem letting out a bright purple light was floating in the air.

<You've gained a Dimensional Fragment.>

Aside from purchasing a Dungeon, the Dimensional Fragments had many other uses. Since he had more than three, he could make the Holy Maiden or someone else a Dimensional lord if he desired it.

“Anyways, they came out from Greece yet why did they make their colony here?”

[It seemed the Titan liked the energy around this place.]

“Hmm. Maybe it has something to do with the synchronization.”

Woojin thought about it as he stroked his chin.

When he chose the Seoul Station as his Dimensional Domain, he had to consider the synchronization rate. All the Dimensional lords were putting their colonies in historic sites or places where a lot of people gathered.

Now that he thought about it, one would be able to make a new Dungeon that was unlike the Dungeons seen up until now using a Dimensional Fragment.

‘If a foothold akin to the one Rashmode made was created then it'll be problem.’

Wasn't it the result of a research carried out by a professor studying the Dungeons?

The professor he come across in the US had artificially created a Dungeon.

It would be dangerous if there were people creating Summoning Magic Circle to call for the Dimensional lords. It wouldn't be like this where the mob of monsters would give away the Dimensional lord's location.

‘Well, there might already be a lot of them here….’

Maybe, there were Dimensional lords on earth moving around stealthily. Woojin stopped worry about it, since it wasn’t something he could prevent.

If he wanted a permanent solution, he had to block further Dungeon Links from forming. He had to stop it at the source.

However, Woojin had no idea how he should accomplish this.

“All right. Let's clear this place, and we can head to Germany.”

He had earned a Dimensional Fragment, and he was able to kill several thousand monsters.

There was one colony in Germany, and there were two left in England.

***

Jaejoo Manjanggul Cave Ticket Office.

There were seven trucks with containers that approached the ticket office. The employee stepped outside.

A group of people got off a sedan that had accompanied the trucks.

The employee recognized a face amongst the group of people.

The ticket office employee spoke as if they were old acquaintances.

“What is all this stuff?”

“Ah, do you remember the official notice that you received? The repair work is being performed ahead of the regular schedule.”

“You should have told us sooner. There are still tourists inside….”

“Ha ha. I'm sorry. Please stop any tourists from entering from now on. Please send out an announcement and allow the people on tour to exit slowly. ”

“Yes. I'll do so.”

“Ah. This is manager Lee-sahngjoon. He is in charge of the renovation.”

He had a bit of a cold demeanor, and it was hard to strike up a conversation with him. He was giving off a cold vibe.

“My name is Lee-sahngjoon.”

“I'm Kim-taesheek.”

“Let's do this.”

After the greeting, Lee-sahngjoon ordered the workers to unload the trucks. Numerous containers kept coming out of the containers. The employee named Kim-taesheek asked a question as he saw the unidentified boxes.

“What are all those thing? It seems you guys aren't the one, who repaired the guardrails last time...”

“We hired a different company. Please stop asking so much questions. Please help us, so we can finish the construction in a timely fashion.”

“Yes, I'll do so.”

They probably switched companies to get another rebate.

Still, there were too many loads here to be considered a normal guardrail repair job.

Signs were put up starting from the Manjanggul Cave's parking lot. The do not enter signs were placed in various locations to keep out people from entering.

The government employee had left, so Kim-taesheek had nothing to do. This was why he started to hang around the entrance to the cave. The workers were very strong, and they were easily carrying the heavy boxes down the stairs.

Manager Lee-sahngjoon came over to Kim-taesheek.

“This is a construction site now, and it may be dangerous. Please stand back.”

“Ah, jeez. I was just bored...”

“Stand back.”

“Uh-whew. All right.”

Kim-taesheek grumbled as he stepped backwards. Lee-sahngjoon called several workers over.

“You guys should prevent anyone from getting in.”

“Yes, president.”

Kim-taesheek watched as Lee-sahngjoon walked down the stairs. There were lights overhead, yet he only took off his sunglasses when he was in the dark cave.

The owner of the hidden face was none other than the Hwarang's guild master. It was Iello's vassal, Lee-sahngho.

The workers were all ex-employees of the Hwarang guild.

After walking a long time into the cave, Lee-sahngho arrived at a location where the boxes were stacked up.

“Open it.”

“Yes.”

The employee threw open the lid to the containers.

One could see red minerals letting out faint light.

Several hundred boxes were filled to the brim with Bloodstones.

“…….”

Lee-sahngho wordlessly started to draw a magic circle on the floor of the cave.

It was a Gate to call Iello-nim here.

He started the construction of a foothold.

***

Germany.

They arrived at a devastated site.

“Did used to be a famous art museum?”

“That's what I heard.”

“Hmmm. They did well in blocking it.”

Helicopters and Roused were busily moving about the ruins, and the soldiers were all wearing gas masks. For a brief moment, Woojin gave a short appreciation of the what he was seeing.

“I came here for nothing.”

His EXP was gone, and he had also wasted his time.

Germany had put in an official request for help to Alandal, but they hadn't sat on their hands until Woojin arrived.

They used tactical nuclear weapons to clear away the groups of monsters, and they had sent in an elite Roused unit to hunt down the Dimensional lord.

No, the people of earth had named them as 'Monster lords'.

Aside from Woojin, Germany was the fourth country that had been successful in hunting down a Monster lord.

The Holy Maiden looked on with regrettable eyes as she watched the soldiers take away the gem letting out a glaring purple light.

“Aren't you going to recover that one?”

Woojin smirked.

“Do you think I'm a thief? I won't steal from others.”

“…….”

The Holy Maiden looked on with a little bit of resentment on her face.

If he was such a virtuous man, why did he take her Dimensional Fragment?

“Do you feel wronged?”

“No.”

“I said I'll pay you back, yet you refused to take it.”

“I didn't say anything.”

Yes, she didn't say anything, but he was troubled to see the resentment in her eyes.

Woojin shrugged his shoulder with a leery expression on his face.

“Well, let's head to England before we are too late.”

“Yes, monarch.”

Woojin and the Holy Maiden headed towards the helicopter they had ridden here from the airport. At that moment, a group of people got off from a car, and they rushed towards Woojin. By seeing the cameras and their appearance, one could tell they were reporters.

“Hero! It's been awhile.”

Amongst them, one of the reporter had an unusually enthusiastic expression on his face. He approached Woojin as he lowered his head in greeting. Woojin's memory wasn't too bad. No, it was unbelievably good compared to a normal human.

“Didn't I see you in the Middle East?”

“Oh, my gosh! I can't believe you remembered such an unimportant person as me. It is an honor.”

Woojin smirked.

This man was one of the war correspondents he rescued in the Middle East.

“Well, I'm busy, so I'll turn down any requests for troublesome interviews.”

“No, sir. How could I take time away from such an important person. I heard you were coming here, so I came to say hello.”

“And you came to take pictures.”

Woojin looked at the several dozen cameras pointed at him as he spoke.

The reporter shook his head from side to side as his face turned pale.

“No way. I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing.”

The war correspondent was being overly carefully in front of his benefactor, who had saved his life. Woojin spoke as he grabbed the man's shoulder.

“Well, I guess taking picture is part of your job. Instead, let me ask you for a favor..”

“Oh. It'll be an honor. Please let me know what I can do. I'll do anything.”

When Woojin put his arms around his shoulders, the reporter looked as if he would run straight into a battle if asked. He had a fervent expression on his face.